The Call to Imitate Our Spiritual Leaders

you would take your Bible turn to Hebrews chapter 13 verses 7 and 8. Hebrews 13 verse 7 and 8 we'll read those verses here in a moment. Now I might have intimidated or surprised you by saying it would be good for you to go and study the book of Leviticus on your own. I say that because many scholars say it's really hard to understand fully the book of Hebrews without understanding the book of Leviticus. It's all tied together. I think one of you said, Pastor, are you going to preach through Leviticus next? No, not quite. But it would be good for you to go study the book of Leviticus. It would help you see all of this together.

Matter of fact, that might be something that I need to do on my own as well. Now we're moving along in the practical section of the book of Hebrews, which is the last section of the book. That's pretty obvious. Now let me remind us of the breakdown. Now I have heard that some of you are going back and reading through the book of Hebrews in your own personal time. It may be good for you to note this breakdown. The theological section starts at chapter 1 verse 1 and it goes all the way to chapter 10 verse 18. The practical section starts at chapter 10 verse 19 and it goes through the end of the book.

But look at how practical our last section of teaching has been. We spent quite a bit of time in those verses. From verse 1 to 6 we saw that the author was calling these believers to certain duties and responsibilities that pertain to Christian love. These are demonstrations of Christian love that would have been lived out in their church fellowship, in their personal lives, in their homes, in their families, and in the world that they lived in in that time. It's the same with us.

If we live out all that our Lord has given us in verses 1 to 6, we will live out these demonstrations of Christian love in our church fellowship, in our families, in our personal lives, in our homes, and in our world. But at verse 7 the author makes a shift. Starting at verse 7 he moves into certain teaching that is about calling them to persevere in their sanctification and faith. Let me restate that. The author was giving them certain teaching that they certainly needed that pertained to their responsibilities to persevere in their faith and in their personal sanctification. Now let me define that word sanctification.

In his Bible Doctrine Essential Teachings of the Christian Faith, Wayne Grudem defines sanctification saying, sanctification is a progressive work of God and man and makes us more and more free from sin and like Christ in our actual lives. Then he goes on to give four bullet points of truth about sanctification. These are rather short. Sanctification begins at regeneration, it increases throughout the life, it is complete at death, and sanctification is never complete in this life. Now let me refer you to our church statement of faith. If you don't have a copy I would encourage you to do so.

They are around here in a nice bound edition, easy for you to store and study and read and lead your family in. But in section five, the way of salvation, in letter D, there's a great section on sanctification. It's rather short. Let me read it. We believe, and I'll add to that by saying we believe and teach, that sanctification is the process by which God sets believers apart for his own purposes and makes them to be partakers of his own holiness. That sanctification is a progressive work.

It begins in regeneration, that it is carried out in the hearts of believers by the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit, that the Holy Spirit uses the ordinary means designated by the Father, primarily the word of God, self-examination, self-denial, watchfulness and prayer, and that sanctification will continue until the believer's final glorification. But notice who does this work. Our sanctification is a work of God in us. Our sanctification is a work of God in us, but we are responsible. It is a synergistic work. We are responsible. We work, but yet God works in us. Well, that's what we see here this morning.

The author was calling these believers to do certain things that would help them persevere and press on in their personal faith and in their sanctification. In verse 7 he called them to remember and imitate the faith of their past leaders. We'll get into that this morning. In verse 8 he called them to remember and imitate their Lord. We'll get into that this morning. Starting in verse 9 he called them not to be led astray by false teaching and false teachers that plagued them and tempted them. And in verse 17 he called them to submit to their current spiritual leaders. He even called them to obey them.

And in verse 24 he called them to greet their leaders on his behalf. Again, the author was calling them to certain responsibilities that he knew they needed. And you may have picked up on this, but notice there is a lot about leaders here. There is a lot about church leadership here. Verse 7, verse 17, verse 24 are all about leaders, past and present and future. Now of all of the books in my library, and I have quite a few, actually my library is in my office and my office is in my home, but really it's all mixed up. I live where I work and work where I live. I'm currently redoing my library and my office and so that's all up in the air.

But there are certain books that are foundational. They're vital. To me they're must-haves for pastoral ministry. Spurgeon's Lectures to His Students is one of those. I try to go back and read through that from time to time. I'm overdue. Martin Lloyd-Jones' Preaching in Preachers is a must. I've read it some, but I've listened to those lectures quite a lot in the past. I'm overdue to go through that material as well. But another that is very, very practical, and I think it's overlooked, is John MacArthur's The Master's Plan for the Church.

And in that book he says, and I'm quoting, churches can survive nearly every kind of problem but a failure of leadership. A church cannot be more successful than its leaders. He's right. And I have been in ministry long enough to see that proved out many times over. But let me turn that around and I believe that what I'm about to say is equally true. It is true that churches cannot survive bad leadership. The church's success depends on leadership, but the believers in the church must be willing to follow that leadership. The church and her success depends on the church's willingness to follow biblical leadership.

And if believers in churches will not follow God-called, God-appointed biblical leadership, they are a doomed church. Leadership and following that leadership go hand-in-hand for the sake of the success of the church. A church must have both. I thought about the Corinthian church. They struggled to follow leadership, the Apostle Paul's. Well, that's what we have here in verses 7 to 8. He was calling these believers to imitate their leaders. And we're going to see in verse 7 and 8, he points out two. Now let's read our verses. It's just two verses, rather short. He says, Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God.

Consider the outcome or the result of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Now let me show you our approach to the verses. I want us to see that the author called them to do four things. First, remember their leaders. It's right there in verse 7. Second, consider their leaders, right in the middle of verse 7. Third, imitate the faith of their leaders. And then fourth, in verse 8, I want us to see that he put before them their supreme leader, Jesus Christ. So let's dive in. Let's get started. Number one, the call to remember their leaders. That's in the first section of verse 7.

The call to remember their leaders. Now this part of the verse is short, but there is a lot more here than we may realize. But to remember, it means to call to mind, to be mindful of. And this speaks of remembering and being mindful of the person it has called to be mindful of.

in this case their past leaders, what they knew of the person, what they knew of their life. But there's more. The construction of the language tells us he was not calling them to remember their leaders one time or a few times throughout the year, maybe on their birthdays, anniversaries, things like that. He was calling them to always remember and always be mindful of their leaders. The verse can truly read, remember and keep remembering those leaders who spoke the Word of God to you. Never forget what you know about them. I give you a good example, not this past Friday but the Friday before.

I had the honor of being a pallbearer for my home church pastor. He died after a very long illness. Sadly, he had been out of the ministry and ill since about 2003 or 2024. His name was Dennis Sewell. We knew him as Brother Dennis or Dr. Sewell. Sometimes we would get brave and call him Doc. He always smiled. When God saved me back in 1989, I went to Highland Baptist Church and he was my pastor from February of 1989 until I went into the ministry and on staff in February of 1996. Brother Dennis was Christi's pastor as well.

But as a brand new believer, for some seven years, he spoke the Word of God to me from the pulpit and personally I spent a lot of time with him in his office and sometimes I went by his home. My wife can tell you, Keith can tell you, our elders can tell you, I have never forgotten Brother Dennis. I have never forgotten what he taught me, what I learned from him, and who he was and is to me. And he had and still does have a tremendous bearing on who I am as a man of God and as a minister. And that has had a bearing on you, whether you know it or not. And that's a good example of what it means to remember your spiritual leaders.

But back to this circumstance, who were these leaders? You may say, pastor, that's easy. They're pastors, they're elders. Well that's not the case. The term for leaders here is a general term and it's rather vague. It is not the language that was normally used for church officers. So we do not know who these leaders were, but we do know that they spoke the Word of God to them, so that tells us quite a lot. So this is who they were and most of what you read out there will basically tell you the same thing.

It seems that these were the men who evangelized them and spoke the Word of God to them in their early days, because in the language, the author seems to differentiate between their current leaders, later on in verse 17, and their former leaders in verse 7. Maybe these were traveling evangelists. Maybe this refers to some of the apostles. Now think about it, the book of Acts and all throughout the New Testament does not tell us a lot about many of the apostles. Peter and Paul kind of get out of the spotlight, isn't that right? And we really need to see what these leaders did, whoever they were. I've touched on this some.

The author says they spoke the Word of God to them, and understanding what the Word of God is here is important. The author says they spoke the Word of God to them, and understanding what the Word of God refers to really helps us understand what they did. This does not only refer to the gospel, but to all of the message of God and God's Word. This would encompass, yes, the gospel and the message of Christ, but also the entire message of God and Christianity. So notice what these leaders did. These men seem to have have evangelized them with the gospel, and then continued to teach them all of God's Word, all of God's ways.

We know the context and the background of this church and these believers. These were Jews, so these leaders evangelized them out of Judaism, out of the Old Covenant, to faith in Christ and to the New Covenant, and they continued to teach them God's Word and God's ways. So take note of what the author was calling them to do. He was calling them to always remember those leaders who evangelized them and taught them the Word of God in what seems to be their early days. He was calling them to always be mindful of who they were, what they meant to them, and what they did in ministering to them and among them.

I love what the Bible scholar Tom Shriners says here. I'm quoting, "'Remembering is not just a mental recollection, but embraces the whole person.'" That's true. That's good. He goes on to say, "'It is a kind of remembering that changes those who do the recollecting.'" Oh, that's really good. Again, the example of my home church pastor really helps. I have always remembered Brother Dennis. I have always remembered what he taught me, how God used him in such a great way in my life, what he meant to me, what he meant to Christi, and the great influence he has had on me, his preaching, his understanding of the gospel and ministry. I could go on.

Next, number two, the call to consider the outcome of their life. We see this in the middle part of verse 7, the call to consider the outcome of their life. Now, this part of the verse is short and simple as well, and all of the translations that we read really say the same thing. But look at how he called them to consider their past leaders. And this word consider means to look attentively, to look and to observe intentionally, carefully, and accurately. And what this communicated here is simple. The author was taking one big step past the call to always remember their leaders.

He was calling them to thoughtfully, carefully, accurately consider those leaders. And the construction of language tells us this was to be an ongoing, sustained consideration. But what were they to consider? How they preached God's Word to them? Yes and no. He called them to consider carefully and accurately, notice the outcome of their way of life. They were to intentionally engage in a sustained consideration of their life, their way of living, and the outcome of their way of living. And this outcome, the New American uses the word result. It means what it says.

And the past tense construction of the language here lead many to believe that these believers had passed on, they were dead. Some even speculate they were martyred. We really don't know. And it is clear, although it's not stated, that their way of living and the end result of their lives was good, honorable, and worthy of Christ and Christianity. And we will see it was worthy of imitation. So notice what he's calling them to do here. He was calling them to carefully and accurately consider the lives and the manner of living of those leaders who spoke the Word of God to them.

As one commentator said it, the author was calling them to look at their lives from beginning to end, observe how they closed a well-spent life. Again, I think about Brother Dennis at his funeral. I enjoy talking to many, many that I knew through the years who looked at Brother Dennis's life from beginning to end. We observed his life. We saw how he lived. He had a life that was spent well for Christ. Of course, his ministry was cut short by sickness, but that was all a part of God's providence. And of course, he was not a perfect man by any means.

But the result and the outcome of his life was well spent for Christ, well spent for service in Christ. And to be honest with you, during the funeral service, there were many thoughts that went through my mind, but I was thinking of Brother Dennis's well-spent life for Christ and service, and I was reflecting on how that made an impact on me and how it is being fleshed out in you. But before we move on into how he called them to imitate their leaders, let's think on this, okay? Let's let this sink in.

The author was calling these Christians in this body of believers to always remember those leaders who taught them the gospel and the Word of God in the past, most likely in those early days. Then he went one step further. He called them to carefully consider and to take note of how they lived and the results of their lives and the results of their living. There are a few words that come to my mind here. This is very sobering. It's very serious.

Very sobering. Again, I think Tom Schreiner is spot-on and he helps me. I think he helps you, or I hope he does. He says, remembering is not just a mental recollection but embraces the whole person. It is a kind of remembering that changes those who do the recollecting. Now, a question to ponder. Of course, the implication is that these leaders were honorable because next we see that he called them to imitate and follow their example. But here's the question. Do you think that in remembering and considering the outcome of their lives they remembered fault in their lives? Of course. I'm sure they did. These men were flawed.

This church was flawed. Even the Apostles were flawed. Now, we'll come back to that. We'll come back to that. Next, number three, the call to imitate their life. The call to imitate their life. We see that at the end of the verse. Now, we see that the author takes a big step and he reveals more here by calling them to imitate their past leaders. He is certainly saying they were worthy of imitation. Not that they were perfect, no. But they were certainly worthy of being patterns, of being examples for them to follow. Remember, the New American uses the word follow. That's accurate. But let's look at this call.

Now, the modern translations use the word imitate. The King James uses the word follow. Follow. I like that. And imitate here, it means just what it says. But I like to use that word follow. We're going to come back to that. But notice they were to follow their faith. And we need to see what this faith refers to. Really, this encompasses a lot more than we may realize at first glance. And you need to get this, church. This would have been their personal faith, which included their salvation and their personal walk with God. This would have been their calling from God and their life of faith, which was unique to them.

And these believers saw and experienced and benefited from their calling and their unique life of faith. This would have been their life of faith that included their personal family lives, which these believers saw and experienced as they watched them live among them. This would have been their body of faith, their belief, their doctrine, which these believers heard in their preaching and their teaching. So let me condense and summarize that. The faith the author was referring to was their personal faith, their faith in their calling from God, and their faith and belief that they taught and they preached among them.

And the author was calling them to imitate that faith and follow after them in these things. He was calling them to imitate them, follow them, how they live the life of faith, what they believe, what they taught. He was calling them to follow after them in their pattern example. Now I want to take this a little further. In all my study I ran across the many times the Apostle Paul called on individuals and churches to imitate and follow his personal example. In 1 Corinthians 4 16, Paul called the Corinthian believers to imitate him. He says, I urge you then be imitators of me. And this was not some kind of a vain prideful call and command.

He was calling them to imitate his unselfish devotion to Christ and his unwavering love, sacrifice, and service for Christ, for the churches, and for them and other believers. In Philippians 4 9, he did the same thing, but instead of using the word imitation, he used the word practice. He said, what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things. Again, this was not some kind of an egotistical self-serving call and command. Paul was calling them to practice and follow after the things they had seen in him. No doubt this referred to his teaching, but also his life and life of faith. One more that's very good.

2 Timothy 3 10 and 11, Paul reminded Timothy that he had done well as a student of his and a young minister in training in imitating him. Verses 10 and 11 says, you however have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch and Iconium and Lystra, which persecutions I endured, yet from them all the Lord rescued me. Again, this was not some kind of a narcissistic relationship between Paul and Timothy. Paul being some kind of a narcissistic teacher, no.

But Paul was commending him, that he had followed his teaching, conduct, aim in life, his faith, patience, love, and steadfastness. He had even imitated him in his persecutions and sufferings, which were for the Lord. Now what's my point here? In these verses, and there are many, many more, we can see the call to imitate and follow a spiritual leader, specifically Paul. And we can see a commendation for following a spiritual leader. Timothy was commended here. I mentioned this earlier, but think about this question.

What would have happened in the church at Corinth if those believers would have followed and imitated Paul in his teaching, conduct, aim in life, his faith, patience, love, and steadfastness? They would have had revival. They would have had revival. The Philippian church followed. They imitated Paul in his faith well, and they were a healthy body of believers for doing so. And Timothy, he followed, he imitated Paul in his faith well, and he was a very healthy young man of God and a pastor because he did so. I thought about it this morning.

I see Grace Life Church of the Shoals, and I see many believers who have followed their pastor well for well over 30 years, and not just Brother Jeff, but they followed other elders and other leaders in the life of the church. I see the same thing at Shelbyville Mills Baptist Church. That is a body of believers who have followed their pastor and their leaders well. I think about Grace Life of prior Oklahoma. I have visited with, and I know of believers there who've been there for years, and they have followed their pastor well. And this isn't some kind of narcissism, no. It's biblical, what we see here.

Now before we move into the call to remember, consider, and imitate our supreme leader who's Christ, I want to help us see what verse 7 means to us. I want to call you to an exercise. Me and I want you to lead off in this exercise. I want you to include your wife, and I really want you to do this. Remember and consider your past pastors and spiritual leaders. I'm speaking of those pastors and spiritual leaders you were under, and those who had an influence on your life and family. Make a list. Note and write down the things worthy of imitating and following, and the things that are unworthy of imitating. Consider their personal lives.

Carefully consider their family lives, how they managed their home, how they served and led their wives, how they raised their children. Consider how they handled money and possessions. Consider carefully and think about their personal character. Then move into their preaching and their teaching and their doctrine. Consider their teaching. Consider also their ministry and consider how they led the church and their ministry. Make a list. Write down names. Be honest with your wife, your spouse, and note the ones worthy of imitation and those unworthy of imitation.

And then second, note the ones who are worthy of following, and in that list, note the specifics that you can follow and note their weaknesses, even some of their failings, and you can learn from both. Some of the greatest ministry lessons I have learned have come from watching some struggle and even have great weakness and failure and saying, Lord, I'm not going to do that with your help. Now I'll make a shift. I'm your pastor. My role is pastor, teacher, and elder in the life of the church. My responsibility here...

is to be living a life from top to bottom worthy of imitation. In my personal life, in my doctrine and teaching, in my home life, in my ministry, everything, I am to be leading a life worthy of imitation. And if I'm not, I'm not qualified. It's not just me. Keith's an elder here. Tommy is an elder. Jared is an elder. You know there are men in this room, you may be an elder one day, I don't know how God works all that out. And look men, we must be men that the believers in the life of our church can follow, imitate, and look to us as examples in all matters of life, in all matters of faith, and in all matters of ministry.

It's been a interesting year or so for me. I preached the funerals of my parents. I just attended my home church pastor's funeral. And as I was helping carry Brother Dennis's casket to the grave, I could feel that it was a metal box. I thought everyone goes out in the box just like this. I looked down into the grave, I could see where the machinery had dug the grave, and I thought rich and poor go right into the ground. Now here's my point. Speaking to myself, Keith, Tommy, Jared, future leaders here, everybody goes to the same kind of funeral. They'll put you in the grave, they'll put me in the grave the same way. And here's my question.

What will our people, Grace Life Church and other believers, remember and consider about us when we have reached the end of our lives? It's a pretty tall order, but it's what we see in Scripture. Last, number four, the call to remember, consider, and imitate Jesus. Jesus. We see this in verse 8. Now to some, verse 8 does not fit with verse 7, or really with any of the teaching in verse 9. It's almost like it's just stuck in there out of place, but it's not. Nothing is out of place in God's Word. To me, verse 8 goes with both. It goes with verse 7, and it goes with verse 9.

But let's read verse 8, because verse 8 really is the highlight of the teaching. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Now notice, we do not see the call to remember, consider, and imitate like we do in verse 7, but we will see it's there by implication. But the author is telling us three things about Jesus, and then I'm going to come back to our responsibilities here and this implication. First, we see Jesus as Savior. The author shows us Jesus as Savior. Notice that the author uses two names for Jesus here, Jesus and Christ.

In this first name Jesus, it means Jesus, or Jehovah is salvation, Jesus the Son of God, the Savior of mankind, God incarnate. Now this is the point. By using this name, the author was pointing to our Lord's work on earth. He was using the name that reminded these believers that God had come in the flesh. He had died on the cross for their sin, and he was truly the Messiah of God promised in the Old Testament. He was speaking to and of Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Second, we see Jesus as God. The author shows us Jesus as God. This name Christ, it means Christ the Anointed, and this is the point.

By using this name, the author was pointing to their Lord as God. This name is the official title that states the divinity of the Son of God. So, notice what we see here. The author was reminding them that Jesus was Savior, and Jesus was the Christ, or God in the flesh. And then third, we see Jesus as the unchangeable Savior and God. The author presents Jesus as the unchangeable Savior and God. Notice he says, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever. Now, what does this mean? What's the author saying? It almost seems a little redundant.

The author was pointing to, the author was pointing these believers to the unchangeableness of Jesus their Lord. He was and is expressing the fact that Jesus is the immutable God. Immutable means unchangeable. Jesus is not capable of change because he was and is God. God is incapable of change. That's what the word immutable means. Simply, he was and is. He was and is the same. He was and is God yesterday, today, and forever. He is. So, look at what the author was saying here. He was telling and reminding these believers that their Savior is God, and he was God who came to the earth to save them and to give them eternal life.

And he is the unchangeable God. He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. The Amplified says he is eternally changeless always. Now, look at what this teaches us. I love what Albert Barnes says here. This is an argument for perseverance. Think about this. This is an argument for perseverance. This is an argument for us to persevere in our sanctification because our Savior and Lord is the unchangeable God. He's immutable. He's the unchangeable God. And borrowing a few things from Barnes, I want to continue to prod us here.

If our Lord were fickle, if our Lord was vacillating, if our Lord was changing in his character, in his plans, would he be worthy of serving? No, because he wouldn't be God. And would we serve him? Hopefully not. If today our Lord helps us and then tomorrow he forgets us or somehow forsakes us, well, would we serve him? Would he be worthy of our service? No, because he wouldn't be God. If our Lord made a plan today but changed that plan tomorrow, would we serve him? Would he be worthy of our love and our service and our sacrifice? No, because he wouldn't be God. But that is not who our Lord is. He is.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. So look at what we are called to do as God's people, his church. We should remember our Lord, consider our Lord, and imitate Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior. He is the unchangeable God. Well, you may say, Pastor, the verse doesn't say we're supposed to imitate Jesus. In 1 Corinthians 11 verse 1, Paul says, Be imitators of me as I am of Christ. What's Paul saying? I'm imitating Christ. You imitate me. And in 1 John 2.6 he says, whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. What is John saying?

Whoever abides in Christ ought to walk in Christ in the same way as Christ walked. That sounds a lot like imitation. Now as I close, I want to quickly tie all this together. Verse 7 and 8. Again, let me read the verses. They're short, they're simple, but they're loaded, they're powerful. Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate, follow their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Now church, I say this humbly, I'm not self-serving. I'm not selfish. I'm not narcissistic. I have no hidden motive. I have no sinful agenda.

And I have lived among you for 15 years. Some of you here have known me for 23 or 24 years. Some of you have known me longer. Tommy and Patty have known me over 20 years. They've seen me serve in multiple churches. Keith has known me for over 20 years. Seen me serve in multiple churches and ministries outside of the local church. Jared has known me since my old youth ministry days, almost 30 years. As your pastor and spiritual leader, I'm to live a life of faith worthy of imitation. Again, that's a tall order.

And according to these verses, you church are to look to me as a mentor, one you can follow, one you can learn from, one who is an example for you to follow. And if I am not a mentor,

I am NOT qualified. And not just me. The text says spiritual leaders plural. And this would include our elders. This would include our spiritual leaders in our church. Tommy, Jared, Keith. And think about our deacons. Remember deacons are supposed to be living in such a way where they gain a good reputation in and outside of the church according to 1st Timothy 313. You men, all of you men, are responsible to be men of faith living the life of faith worthy of imitation and being an example to all in the life of the church.

And church I am thankful that I can without reservation recommend to you our elders and deacons and other leaders as examples to follow. But church, none of us are perfect. You know what? The longer we're here in this thing called the local church living life around each other, we're going to see each other's flaws. And you know as a pastor and elders we kind of live in a fishbowl. And so the longer you see me you're going to see our imperfections. You're going to see my strengths and my weaknesses. And let me show you something. Your pastor needs grace. Your elders need grace. All the spiritual leaders need grace.

But I want to show you something. You need grace too. You need grace. The grace you want your Lord to give you, you better be willing to turn it around and give it to your leaders. And look, not only that, we need prayer. Pray for your pastor. Pray for my family. Pray for your elders. Pray for their wives. Pray for their children. Pray for the leaders in the life of our church. What happens to churches when leaders blow it and fail? The consequences are gross and sometimes immeasurable. But look at how all of this comes back together.

The pastor and spiritual leaders of Grace Life Church Brookhaven are to be men of faith and godliness worthy of imitation. And you as a church are to follow our example and even imitate our lives and faith. And we are all to be engaged in this work while remembering, considering, and imitating our Lord, our Savior, Jesus Christ, who is the unchangeable God. Now let me show you the key to it all. If we are all remembering our Lord, if we are all considering our Lord, if we are all following and imitating our Lord, this will happen spiritually and organically. But if we don't follow our Lord, the whole train comes off the track.

That's the only way it works. Now what's the title of the message? It's real simple. The call to imitate our spiritual leaders comes right out of verse 7. The call to imitate our spiritual leaders.